More than 100 confirmed dead after train derails in northern India

An Indian express train derailed on Sunday morning, killing over 100 people in one of the country's worst rail disasters in years, according to police.

Shocked passengers recounted being woken by a violent thud, and told of their desperate search for loved-ones on the train, which was carrying at least one wedding party with the marriage season in India in full swing.

"We woke up to a great thud this morning. It was pitch dark and the noise was deafening," one passenger told reporters as he waited with his family at the scene, which is a remote area outside the northern city of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh state.

"I am lucky to be alive and safe. It was a near-death experience for us."

TV footage shows rescue workers using gas cutters and other equipment to slice through mangled coaches strewn with suitcases and other luggage.

It is the worst disaster since 2010 when a passenger train crashed into a freight train in the eastern state of West Bengal, killing 146 and injuring over 200.